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Updated
July 21, 2018 11:12:50
Joseph Deng, a former refugee, broke the Australian 800m record of 50 years at the Diamond League match in Monaco.
Deng, 20, finished seventh in 44.21 seconds on Friday night (Saturday morning AEST) in a hot race won by Botswana's Nijel Amos.
The Australian mark of 1: 44.40 was established by gold medalist Ralph Doubell at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and tied by Alex Rowe in Monaco 46 years later. "1965" "It's a great feeling," said Deng. "My target was not the record, it was just for running fast." 19659009 "I knew it was going to be a fast race. [Coach Justin Rinaldi] said to stay in the top five, in the sixth position and see what happens.
" This is my last race of the season So, I'm done now, I'm back in Australia next week. "19659007] Deng was born in a Kenyan refugee camp in 1998 after his mother fled Sudan's brutal civil war.
The family arrived in Queensland in 2004, with Deng soon showing a great promise as an athlete.
He was chosen to run the two-round race at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April, even though he did not qualify for the final at the trials, but justified the selector's confidence by finishing seventh while Luke Mathews won the bronze medal, Coast Games, Deng and his partner in the ################################################################# 39 Peter Bol training – another Australian mid-distance runner of Sudanese descent e – broke the national 800m record in Europe, with Bol finishing ninth in 1: 46.64 in Monaco.
Deng's new record means that Peter Norman's 200m silver medal record, 20.06 seconds – also set at the Mexico City Games – is now the oldest Australian pound
mark is Charlene Rendina's 800m time of 1: 59.0 which dates back to 1976.
Deng also broke Oceania's 800m record of 1: 44.3 set by New Zealander Peter Snell in 1962.
The race in Monaco was the fourth time in 47 days Deng had dipped below 1:45 – more than any other Australian.
AAP
Topics:
sport,
Athletics,
Australia,
Monaco
Published
July 21st, 2018 10:49:41
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